My name is Dave Stancliff. Walk down the road of life with me each day. You'll find news and my views. I'm a veteran, an independent thinker, and a former newspaper publisher and editor.
This blog is not about making money. It's a forum to share with. All views expressed are mine, unless I note otherwise.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Drone try to kid me – those pilotless planes have accidents all the time

Good Day World!

The use of drones has become commonplace in the military. So have accidents involving drones.

The drone struck the USS Chancellorsville on the side, leaving a 2- to 3-foot hole, said Lt. Lenaya Rotklein of the U.S. Third Fleet.

This was the second military drone crash in one week. On Tuesday, a drone from Fort Drum in upstate New York crashed into Lake Ontario during a training flight. The Air Force is still investigating that incident.

July 2013:

A remote stretch of the Florida Panhandle highway was closed after an Air Force drone crashed near the area. Tyndall Air Force Base reported the QF-4 drone crashed on takeoff.

The Air Force closed Highway 98 west of Panama City and east of Mexico Beach because of fires from the crash. Officials say the drone had a limited, 24-hour battery life.

In the news last week:

The U.S. military was forced to relocate a large fleet of drones from a key counterterrorism base on the Horn of Africa after a string of crashes fanned local fears that the unmanned aircraft were at risk of colliding with passenger planes, according to documents and interviews.

Air Force drones ceased flying this month from Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. installation in Djibouti, after local officials expressed alarm about several drone accidents and mishaps in recent years. The base serves as the combat hub for counterterrorism operations in Yemen and Somalia, playing a critical role in U.S. operations against al-Shabab, the Somali Islamist militia that has asserted responsibility for the Nairobi shopping mall attack, which killed more than 60 people.

The Pentagon has temporarily moved the unmanned aircraft from the U.S. base in Djibouti’s capital to a makeshift airstrip in a more remote part of the country.

It’s pretty clear to me there’s a pattern of drone accidents. What’s scary is such a high tech weapon can suddenly do something really unexpected…like hit one of our own cruisers. The Pakistan government has been howling for years about errant drones killing their citizens. For good reason, they do…intended or not.

When I hear people talk about national security depending on drones, I get a queasy feeling in my gut because if that’s the case, we’re in BIG TROUBLE!